i rode the motorcycle by the cafe. when i saw that my father was still there, i pulled into the parking lot to see if he needed any help. we left for belmont around 10:20am.
first thing i noticed when i got to belmont was the storm door had a loose hinge, causing the door to swing out rapidly, denting the frame against the metal railing of the front steps. i fixed it by insert a wooden matchstick into the screw hole with some wood glue (a trick i learned when i repaired my loose front step back in the spring) then reseaeting the screw back into the stuffed hole. it worked great, the door is now good as new again.
i started cleaning the house as soon as i arrived, even though my mother had cleared most of it already (piled into the sunroom which we only just cleared out over the weekend). we extended the dining table by one leaf. i used blue tape to temporarily secure the tablecloth underneath the table so it wouldn't rest on guests' laps. i moved my father's cart of radio and electronic equipment into the sunroom. i cleaned out leftover oil drips (from last year's turkey) from the oven so it wouldn't scorch (a lesson i learned a week ago when i burnt leftover oil in the oven). i moved things into the basement. i vacuumed. i worked non-stop, didn't even have time to eat the leftover scallion bread and white ear fungus soup (my father cooked a new batch). at one point bin bin called me father to wish us a happy thanksgiving, and to tell us they moved to weston, because they have better public schools there.
my parents weren't particularly stressed. all the ingredients were already prepared, all they had to do was assemble everything before the guests arrived. having done this so many years, it's practically routine at this point, even if we just do it once a year. my father even took a nap while my mother holed herself in the bedroom knitting and watching her streaming shows on the imac.
at 2pm i started to preheat the oven. past few years we've been using a disposable aluminum turkey tray to cook our bird, but they're rather flimsy and always seem too small for the size of turkey. this year we found our aluminum tray with the adjustable rack, but even that was a bit small for our 21.5 lbs. bird. luckily i brought my largest baking pan with my flan, and that one was big enough to hold our turkey. we also had a standalone adjustable rack to place underneath the bird. the oven finished preheating after just 10 minutes, but it was still too early to convection bake our turkey, so i turned off the oven and waited until 2:30pm before my father put the turkey inside. set to 235°F, i set the timer to 2-1/2 hours of cook time.
my parents starting making the chunbing (spring pancakes). my father would roll out the pancakes while my mother cooked them on the stove.
my sister showed up around 3:40pm. they would've arrived earlier but i called them at the last minute to bring a few missing ingredients from the cafe (chili peppers, cooking oil) so they took a detour and went back to get them. she arrived with my 2nd aunt and esmei. my sister brought a cage pen for esmei, which i thought was overkill, but turned out to be useful, as we had to put her dog in the pen on multiple occasions for time out reasons. esmei acted like an annoying child, touching and exploring everything, and i seemed to be the only person keeping an eye on her, to prevent her from chewing cables or shoes or getting into other kinds of mischief.
my aunt and matthew showed up around 4pm. they brought banana bread and grilled jumbo shrimps. my sister bought a bunch of cheeses and crackers and cured meats for a cheese board; i think the cost of those items equaled the cost of all our other thanksgiving ingredients combined. i think my 2nd aunt was the only one who showed up without bringing anything. my 2nd aunt brought a bowl of glass noodle salad. originally she was also going to make a sago soup with taro, but it was already close to 3pm when she finally arrived at the cafe so there was no time.
my parents started making the fried spring rolls. this year we were using our self-filtering electric deep fryer. unfortunately we didn't take into consideration the old kitchen outlets. one power strip kept popping it's circuit breaker. when we switched to an extension cord it got too hold because the cord was too long. we then used another power strip which seemed to work, but overtime it'd also get very warm, hot enough to start melting the outlet. after frying the spring rolls, my father fried his taro chunks. when that as done, we turned to the sweet potatoes. this was one of the new things this thanksgiving. building up the success we had deep frying french fries last week, i wantd to try it with sweet potatoes. little did i know, sweet potatoes don't contain as much starch as regular potatoes, so instead of getting crispy, they tend to become soggy. the fix: toss them with some corn starch before frying. they actually turned out pretty good, and matthew couldn't stop eating them.
while everyone was eating, my father and i were in the kitchen making the other dishes. while our food items were frying, we did manage to steal away into the dining room for a bite of food before returning to the kitchen. once we finished with the deep fryer, we made one last thing, which was the butter and garlic mussels. we ended up cooking just a bag even though i had two, that seemed to be the perfect amount of mussels. i also didn't realize matthew doesn't eat mussels. these were cape cod mussels and surprisingly plump. once my father and i finished cooking, my mother went into the kitchen to cook up some suancai while my father finally got around to carving the turkey.
as hosts, we're too busy cooking to really sit down and eat. the only time we can actually relax and have a calm thanksgiving meal is probably the day after, when there are no guests, and we can take our time making the food.
so we put esmei in her pen a few times. you'd think she'd be angry, either crying or barking to be let out, but she seemed pretty used to living in a cage. my sister put in a large dog bed which gave her a place to lie down and sleep. the cage itself wasn't very large, and standing on the dog bed gave esmei enough height that she could probably jump out of the pen if she really wanted to. very early on she found the leftover turkey brine and drank from the bucket. afterwards she was hooked, and went in search of it. we put the bucket in the small bedroom with the door closed but esmei could still smell it, and tried to "dig" underneath the door. i also watched her do something clever: unable to get through the door, i saw her walking around the other side of the wall, looking for another way inside. i feel like she's the kind of dog who will learn how to open the fridge door one day. she also jumped up to get to the turkey table a few times, while everyone was watching. she kept doing it too, not afraid of any repercussions. or like how she kept taking shoes from the foyer like they were her chew toys.
my sister made some kind of strawberry dessert, which sort of stole my thunder, as i'm usually the dessert guy with my annual flan. it made it so that people didn't have an appetite for my flan anymore. but when i prepared a flan for myself, that piqued people's interests, and more flan was served. guests also left with flan: my aunt took home 4 ramekins while my 2nd aunt took home 4 as well (even though she had none herself, i think all 4 is for my 2nd uncle who didn't even have the courtesy to show up for thanksgiving).
my mother replaced the foaming hand soap in the bathroom with a bath & body works coconut and sandalwood scent. i don't know about the coconut but it smells 100% like sandalwood, very fragrant, makes going to the bathroom an aromatherapy experience.
by 8pm all the guests had left. after cleaning up the dining table, i returned home as well. knowing that many people were away for thanksgiving, i didn't have to worry about parking when i got home. the city was a ghost town, every single business closed, with very little car traffic as well.
i look forward to sleeping late tonight and waking up tomorrow to some thanksgiving leftovers at my parents' place. we still have an extra bag of mussels, my father forgot to serve his white ear fungus soup, and i have a package of yellow bean sprouts i meant to make into a korean-syle banchan that i'll finally get a chance to. tomorrow will also be a day long online shopping day and a celtics afternoon game.